Well, this weekend is where it all begins. A slow 42yo C rider and a his daughter, an enthusiastic yet inexperienced 13 yo, will race the first HS of the year in the FTR series (http://www.floridatrailriders.org/). We've been riding together now for 4 years now and both of our riding progression has been fun and steady. Haley had her first race last year (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...ighlight=Tbone and I haven't raced in a few years

but we've never raced the same course. My Sun. course will include hers plus a few extra miles, so we'll have plenty to talk about afterwords. We're both excited, and nervous, and if we weren't I'd be really worried

I'll be racing Senior C (40-45 yo) and Haley will be in Mini Girls (9-14 yo). She'll be on the same row as the Mini C boys, so 20-25 other kids on her row will ensure someone is always passing you or ready to be passed.I'm on a KTM 300 and she be riding a CR85R. Maintenance is done, bikes are loaded, so we'll be reporting back in on Monday with many stories, hopefully written with a smile on our faces!

__________________Me: Gear on and waiting for my race partner to hand off the bike. 8yr old kid: Hey, you race'n ? Me: (looking around to see if he"s talking to someone else).. Ummmm, yeah. 8yr old: What kind of bike you ride'n ? Me: KX 500. 8yr old: (looking puzzled for a second.) Ohhh, you're riding that OLD bike.

Well, I was waiting for some photo's/helmet camera's to get posted but we had a great weekend !! Haley made it 3 laps within the 90 minute time limit (a first ) and I managed a 8th out of 14 riders on Sunday (Best finish yet and made 3 laps in the 2 hr limit!). I'll work on the ride report more tonight...just so sore.. .

Well, I was waiting for some photo's/helmet camera's to get posted but we had a great weekend !! Haley made it 3 laps within the 90 minute time limit (a first ) and I managed a 8th out of 14 riders on Sunday (Best finish yet and made 3 laps in the 2 hr limit!). I'll work on the ride report more tonight...just so sore.. .

Congratulations!!! So in the big picture of things, who covered more ground in the alotted time?!?!?!? Way to go!!! Looking forward to the Race Report.

The first race of the year brings us to the town of Lake City, Fl. The site of the race was a combined MX track and planted pines/woods. The race course was roughly 6 miles for the Sat. race and 8 for Sunday.
Sat was dry and somewhat dusty.I went and rode the practice lap with Haley so I could see how she was doing and also talk about any unique areas when we got back to camp. The 2 boys shown here are brother's and this was their first race together in the 65C class. They finished 1st and 2nd, so seems nothing pushes you harder than racing a sibling..

A few hours after practice and it's time for the start. There were 3 other girls in Haley's class, plus the 20 or so boys that line up in her row. Before you know it..."10 seconds"....."Beeeeeeeeep"...

Haley hops on the bike, starts it in one kick and nails the throttle. Only one problem, she wasn't in gear..

so after a sudden stab 1st she was off. heading into the first corner she was last, so little bit of work to do. I'll have her add to this report when she gets home tonight. Let's just say we had a talk about being a little more aggressive in the beginning and not to stop completely when letting people by...keep those wheels rolling!

Which the next day meant it was my turn. I awoke to a wet parking lot and cloudy skies. Seems it had rained overnight and made the course much nicer. I debated riding the practice lap, as having ridden it with Haley and with my wife during the "Fun run" the night before I figured I had more to lose than gain energy wise. I got talked into riding just a few miles and then bailing. As I was out there I started making a few mistakes, breaking a sweat, and basically wishing I hadn't bothered. I shook those negative thoughts aside and got ready for the race...

"10 seconds"...handle bars turned to the side...kick starter opened up and ready...1st gear engaged...Haley holding my bike not realizing she's about to be roosted head to toe with wet sand That deafening silence those last few seconds before the horn sounds are like nothing I've ever experienced. The excitement, fear, and the pressure of knowing my performance over the next 2 hours lays squarely on my shoulders are all fighting for an audience in my head... "Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep" ..it a split second it all disappears.

I throw my leg over the bike while kicking down at the same time, dump the clutch and I'm off. Hey, where is everyone else at? as I'm going to be one of the first few to the first corner.. I tip toe through the first small section of MX course and head off into the woods.(I'm 117C)

Gotta be cool...relax..just follow the train the first few miles in the woods and wait for others to make mistakes. Actually it was 4 miles of woods to start off so not a lot of passing chances. I saw some people lose patience and try some questionable routes that hung them up and cost time. Right before we dump out to the first small open section I struggle to pass a VetC rider. Come one man, pick a line so I can use the other. Pop out in to the open and it's wet sand. I bog the motor down in a puddled sandy corner but my 300 pulls from doooown low to hold anyone off. We're looping around a pond and a rider from my class is coming in hot to occupy the same spot that I am. He hits a puddle splash's me with water/mud, then slightly makes contact with me. I kinda thought it was neat as neither one of really got to out of shape and I yelled "hey buddy!" more out of fun than anger , but he's in my class so bye goes one position.
Back into the woods and I've got full on arm pump. Really something I need to work on if I'm going to go any faster..I've gotta relax my grip! Try a line and get sorta wedged between 2 trees and stall it. 5 guys go by before i can pull back in line. They all had to be in my class, but can't worry about that now. Soon enough and we're dumped out on the MX track and I'm taking the inside slower lines as I know my technique is horrible. I'm rolling the jumps as that's all I need to do is wad it up in front of everybody. Head into the woods, back out and through the scoring chicane. I'm feeling okay at this point, and head back into the woods. Somewhere in the next mile or so I came up on a Master C rider, but he was actually running a pace that was perfect for me, one that I could do without risking too much energy. I passed him a few times, only to make a mistake and give it back, so I settled in for the next lap and let him pull me along. He was taking good lines, and if I screwed up I could hustle to make it back to him. I get passed by 48C on the MX track, he's just too fast, but he pulls over after the scoring chicane and I hope that means he's out of gas.
So through scoring and head off for the last lap. I'm getting tired, but in the woods it's harder to get passed so it evens out. Took an outside line to let a faster rider through and 818C from my class slides through. He's just too much faster at the this point so I don't try and keep his pace. I make it to the scoring chicane finally and my race is over. I'm tired now...really tired. I get a chance to congratulate the first place finisher and BS with my fellow Senior C competitors.

Wait for the results and..hey, I'm not in the bottom 3rd for a change ! My best finish yet, and i rode the best I could that day (No wrecks, just lots of awkward moments ). Hopefully this weekend I can build upon what I've learned and keep having fun

Soon enough and we're dumped out on the MX track and I'm taking the inside slower lines as I know my technique is horrible. I'm rolling the jumps as that's all I need to do is wad it up in front of everybody.

what a bad attitude! The crowd needs to be entertained! You have to take chances in front of the crowd. If you screw up, you get help picking your bike up (or getting yourself on the stretcher) and if you don't, you're awesomely cool!

Race #2 brings us to the Strickland Ranch just outside Daytona. this is a new piece of land with a Sat loop of 8 miles and a Sunday loop of 11. The terrain is flat as usual with a sand/topsoil mix and several miles cut through palmettos and light woods.

Haley and I did our usual practice lap to get a feel for it and talk about any riding issues. I noticed she wasn't covering the clutch in the slow stuff so the bike was deciding her speed through the corner. A suggestion to feather the clutch in the really tight corners, use corner speed to roll on through then release the clutch on the way out was met with the usual resistance, but after getting back in she admitted that I might be onto something( Not that I know what I'm doing, but for now it's more than she does)

1/2 before her 10:30 race the skies open up. Funny sight as all the experienced parents whip out their rain gear as my wife and I realize we never thought about racing/spectating in the rain. A quick trip to a vendor for a KTM umbrella and we're off to the start line, soaked but excited. Haley gets her bike on the line and readies for the uncertainty of a mud race. We've never ridden in real mud, period, much less raced in it, so this ought to be interesting. I gave her an old set of goggles with the instruction that at any point she can't see pitch the goggles and keep her head down. This advice was wrong I'm sure, but at the time we didn't have goggles with tear-offs, so I thought she'd get hurt worse wrecking from lack of vision verses getting roosted in the face with mud.

"15 seconds"......"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep"...Haley gets the bike fired, dumps the clutch...and stalls it. A few kicks later and she's off, soon to be ran into by another rider and knocked over at the first corner. Undaunted she gets the bike up, started, and heads down the trail in 2nd to last. Nothing like having a challenge laid out in front of you.

We hustle over to the first viewing spot before they head further out and the goggles are already gone, which seems to be what most of the kids did based upon the muddy faces passing by. It's still raining, and now the water has formed puddles on top of the black oozing mud. From our viewing position of what only amounts to 100 yds of track we saw 4 wrecks, which compounded over a 8 mile course means carnage must be taking place out in those woods. One rider dumps it in right in front of Haley, so she had to make a detour into the bushes. She didn't hesitate in wicking up the throttle and screaming right on through as I saw a look in her eyes i had not seen yet this year......determination. You see we had a talk about the subject of racing after the last race.

It seemed she had went into "Trail Ride" mode early on in her last race. I told her afterwords that if we wanted to trail ride we could go to Croom, save the 50$ entry fee for tap dance lessons, and realize that racing just wasn't for her. Her mom and I talked with her about being aggressive, not to the racer's but to the course. We always ride respectfully towards others we said, but the course gives us opportunities to make moves on riders, so use them! Let faster people by, but don't come to a stop to do it. Always keep those wheels rolling! 13 yo girls don't generally get exposed to competing against their peers, mush less such a solo/physical sport like dirt bike racing, so I hoped we hadn't been to hard on her, yet made our point.

Seems it might have sunk in. She's in 2nd place in her class! Now granted there are only 3 girls in her class, but she ahead of #14G who had beaten her in her first 2 races. Haley told the story afterwords of whole lakes that had formed on the course and seeing 6-7 kids all backed up and using a different line to get by. She fell many times it seems, but she had a point to make, to prove to me and her mom that she really wanted to race, and it worked...

2nd place !!!

As she came through the finish at the end there wasn't a part of her that wasn't covered in black mud. The joy on her face wasn't one I'll soon forget, as I think we night have a racer in the family. (never mind Lori's affinity to awkward pics ) Haley did say our talk really helped, so we'll get this parenting thing figured one way or another

Looks like she might have even beaten some of the boys that started on the same row.

Most importantly she received a plaque ! Which was shown to anyone that would care to hear the story, and was clutched tightly in her hands as she fell asleep on the way home.

Whew, Sunday dawns and now I have to live up this kind of pressure from my teammate... The dirt is perfect from the rain the day before so with excitement I wait.."Beeeeeeeeeep"..one kick, no start. 2nd kick and I get a response from the bike but by now the damage is done.(I'm #117 in the middle/back)

16th(out of 19) going into the first turn. Oh well, let's see how this plays out. See my friend Chris Tolken (#40) up ahead and I do a over/under move on him by the gas stop , yelling as I go by,to get one spot closer. I'm doing my time, trying to get in a rhythm. Racer 818 is up ahead and I shout at him as I pass by (He's kicking a hot/stalled 4 stroke...lucky him ) 818 had passed me on the last lap of the prior race, plus he has a Mohawk on his helmet, so I tend to notice him when I see him. After a while we get into the Sunday only section I hadn't seen yet (Only ran 3 miles of the practice lap). It costs me some by not knowing when a corner might dump onto a straightaway, but the extra energy I hope to have later should be worth it. I hear 818 back behind me after a while (his rear brakes squeal, so I know it's him). I let him go as I felt like I wanted to follow him for a while. I pass through the scoring chicane and look up...14th place. I'm disappointed, especially after getting an 8th place last race, but it's a long race so let's see what the next lap brings us.

1/2 mile in and I pass a racer picking his bike up (12th now) Dump out on a straightaway and pass another one on the gas (11th). I get passed by a Master C friend of mine (Jack Hatfield) who I follow for quite a while hoping to get pulled to the next guy. 818 appears in front of me picking his bike up after losing the front, so I get by until a bit later when i give it back. I come to a rider in my class who had fallen over trying to get between two palms trees. Another rider was sitting unsure whether or not to try and get by or wait for the fellow to pick his bike up. I yelled "Goooooooo !" as this is the last lap and I'm losing time. He nervously attempts to fit, and falls over onto the first guy...no way I'm getting through this gap now 2nd gets his bike up and pushes it by (10th). I see 818 up ahead and the race is on ! He swings wide on a left hander as I follow another rider through on a tighter line...I pass 818 (9th) , but the slower rider who was in front of me was weaving left and right so I yelled "pick a side!" and he obliged so I could some distance between myself and my pursuers.

I'm really having fun at this point. I've never raced where I was catching and passing people. Usually It's the other way around I'm seeing helmets up ahead and hoping they might be guys in my cl;ass coming back to me. I see 26C ahead and wait for a place to try and pass. We get dumped onto a straight and drag race to the entry back into the woods. I'm hoping this guy let's up soon as I'm getting nervous how fast the single track entry ahead is coming at me . Thankfully he relents and i merge in front to push towards to the end (8th)

One minor tip-over and I'm there....8th!!! Same place as last race, but much more rewarding. First time I've been stronger the last lap vs. the first. I can only think this must be due to the 20 lbs I lost (Acid reflux. I'd like to thank my sponsor Nexium ) and just riding more.

We were unable to make the ACMC race due to a change in the team dynamic
After discussing her riding with fellow club member's it was decided that Haley was a little just big for the CR85 (and developing bad habits, like not standing enough). I now present to you the next evolution (CR144 equipped) in Junior girls racers..

Now granted, no one has raced this class so far this year I believe, but she'll be lining up right along all the boys. We ordered her #'s with a "C" in case she should decide later on to race the boys class. After riding croom last weekend she has taken to the new bike quickly and we'll both be at the next Bartow race. See you there!